Formed in 1964, and consisting of vocalist Roger Daltrey (b. 1944), guitarist Pete Townshend (b. 1945), bassist John Entwistle (b. 1944, d 2002) and drummer Keith Moon (b. 1946 2, 1978) the band became the faces of the fledgling mod movement - strange when you realise that each album release moved them further away from the R&B sound:

My Generation - R&B
A Quick One - Pop
The Who Sell Out - Psychedelia
Tommy - Hard rock
Who's Next - Progressive rock
Quadrophenia - Heavy metal
The Who By Numbers - Melancholia
Who Are You - Rock

They are as well known for their on (and off) stage antics as they are for their music: backstage fights, destroyed equipment, entries in the Guinness Book of Records as 'the world's loudest band', cars-in-swimming-pools, exploding toilets etc!

At time of writing, the surviving members of the band have just started their umpteenth 'farewell' tour, entitled 'Moving On'. For this, they are using a full symphony orchestra on stage with them

__________________If I'm curt with you it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Clean the ****ing car!

10. For The Who’s UK tour in 1967, their opening band was The Herds. Moon, with the help of bassist John Entwistle, rigged the gong used by drummer Andrew Steele so that every time Steele tries to bang the gong, Moon and Entwistle would pull on the rope and the gong would move out of his reach.

9. In 1969, Moon and Larry Smith of the satirical rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah went to a Marks and Spencer shop. Smith was the first to go and asked for their most durable trouser. After it was shown to him, Moon entered the store and offered to help Smith test the trouser’s durability. They both took one leg and ended up tearing it into two pieces. The staff called the authorities and just in time, their limo driver arrived and said, “Are those one-legged trousers? They’re just what I’ve been looking for!” The driver paid for it and each leg was even packed separately.

8. Moon became friends with actor Oliver Reed because of Tommy. In 1975, during a red carpet premiere, someone threw a lemon curd pie and hit Reed in the face. Then, someone handed him a note that read: “Pie in the Face International. You have been selected by Mr. Keith Moon to become a member.” There was also a certificate with this message written on it: “You are a member, sponsored by Keith Moon.”

7. This didn’t happen just once. When they’re in small villages, Moon liked to make false announcements from his car. He either used police bullhorns or installed speakers in his vehicle. These “announcements” ranged from harmless to that which could likely cause panic e.g. possible tidal waves.

6. Keith Moon wasn’t above going the extra mile when it came to his practical jokes. The guy always went all-out even if that means dressing up as a bald vicar. In stark contrast with his costume, he would shout obscenities at old ladies and basically traumatize them for life.

5. Moon once staged a fake kidnapping with the help of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. And let’s just say it looked so real that the authorities caught up with them.

4. During their appearance at The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on September 17, 1967, he loaded his drum kit with more explosives than his “usual”. The explosion almost blew the band off the stage – it singed Townshend’s hair and affected his hearing. Another guest, actress Bette Davis, fainted after the explosion.

3. On August 25, 1972, Moon sought Pete Townshend’s help to carry the waterbed into the elevator and send it down to the lobby. But it burst before they could remove it and released huge amount of water into the hallway. Realizing he’s about to be in big trouble, Moon went ahead and called the manager to report the “incident.” He claimed that the mattress burst and in the process, destroyed his expensive clothes. Apparently, Moon’s an impressive actor as well because by way of apology, the manager moved The Who to the Presidential Suite.

2. In 1970, he and former Bonzos frontman Viv Stanshall had to wear Nazi officer uniforms for a photo shoot. They didn’t take it off while drinking and even wore the same costume for a few days. That’s not even the worst part. They decided to hire an open-top Mercedes and take a trip to a Jewish neighborhood.

1. He became obsessed with cherry bombs and as The Who toured around the world, Moon made his mark on each hotel by destroying the toilets using the explosives. He once said, “All that porcelain flying through the air was quite unforgettable.”

Iron Maiden cover 'My Generation' as a 'b' side to the 'Lord Of The Flies' single. Vocalist here is Blaze Bailey, and his voice fits the song. I can't see Bruce being able to do this as good as it is here. Musically, it's very punky and different to the usual 'twin guitar, galloping bass' sound they usually have

Patti Smith comes up with 're-imagined' lyrics from the album 'Horses'. Musically it's very sloppy, but it embraces the punk enthics perfectly

...to the ridiculous

Hillary Duff's take on the song is awful. It's so polite it could be played on a Sunday afternoon at a vicars tea party. The famous stutter is gone, and the most famous lyric has been hideously altered. 'Hope I don't die before I get old'! Indeed!!

Lone Star come up with a Spanish version entitled 'Nuestra Generacion' which isn't bad. Released in 1966 it was one of the first covers of the song, and benefits from the authentic 1960's sound, but at the end of the day, it's nothing more than a curio

The Who's paen to Mod writ large. If indeed the parent record was their 'last gasp' (Townsend's words .... ) it's easy to see why they returned to it to follow Tommy as such.
Jimmy is an idealistic young modernist chap. Fuelled by speed and vodka, he careers through life without any anchors, barely registering at the work he endures in order to pay for a new whistle . It all comes to a head at Brighton during those infamous riots ....
Still a joy to behold Hard to believe Carver was only 16 etc ....
A
film I will never tire of watching ....

Although the 'Quadrophenia' movie is good, the LP it is based on is much better. It has become my favourite one of their records, and on first hearing, I was really surprised at how 'heavy metal' is it

Unlike the film version of 'Tommy', the music is very much in the background, either being hear on the radio or as the soundtrack to individual scenes - the band don't appear in person at all

The film also changes the ambiguous ending to the record. In the movie, Jimmy, disillusioned by his life, and feeling let down by everything and everyone around him, steals a scooter belonging to the Ace Face, takes it out to Beachy Head, and drives it off the cliff-top. On record, however, he steals a boat and sails out to a rock in the middle of the sea. It starts to rain, the boat drifts away, and JImmy is left stranded, contemplating his life

As Townshend has stated, it was the last truly great Who album. The two releases from the original band the followed ('The Who By Numbers' and 'Who Are You') have some good songs, but are missing that certain je ne sais quoi. 'Quadrophenia', however, showcases a band that were at the top of their game

Because of the extensive backing tapes and sound effects, the tour to promote the album in 1973 was very problematic. Everything was mechanical in its timing. There was no room for improvisation and Keith had to be on his best behaviour. Disaster struck during an infamous show at the Newcastle Odeon on November 5th when the tapes got hideously out of sync during the song '5:15'. Townshend went into meltdown...

Sound engineer Bob Pridden was dragged on stage from the wings and he was physically beaten by Townshend. A guitar was smashed and wires were ripped out of the equipment. Amplifiers went flying. Roger, Keith and John, along with the audience, stared at him, wondering what on earth he was doing. By then, the theatre management had realised that something was going seriously wrong, and they dropped the fire curtains. The audience sat in darkness for about 20 minutes until the band reappeared with Townshend still in an awful mood. He was swearing at the crowd, and they replied in kind! The show restarted, but instead of continuing with the remainder of 'Quadrophenia', they instead played a 'greatest hits' set, ending with the usual destruction of guitars, amps and drums. They left the stage to thunderous applause! The rest of the tour continued without incident

Although the album was still represented on tour, usually as a short medley, it wasn't played again in full until June 1996 when it was performed in Hyde Park as part of the Prince's Trust 'Masters of Music' benefit concerts. The band were billed as TED [Townshend, Entwistle, Daltrey] instead of The Who, and they were joined by some special guest stars – Gary Glitter as the Godfather, Phil Daniels as both the Narrator and Jimmy, Trevor McDonald as the newsreader, Ade Edmindson as the Ace Face / Bell Boy and Stephen Fry as the hotel manager. A subsequent tour of the US and UK followed, using many of the same guests, although Billy Idol replaced Ade and P.J Proby took the role of The Godfather. A DVD of the concert from Dayton, Ohio was released as 'Quadrophenia And Tommy Live' although this is not considered to be a good show

A further tour entitled 'Quadrophenia And More' started in November 2012 with a stripped back band, without any guest singers or announcements, playing the album in its entirety. These shows included additional video projections, including Keith singing his parts from 'Bell Boy from a concert in 1974 and a bass solo from John during '5:15' from a concert in 2000. A DVD from this tour was released to great acclaim